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Astronomer to Discuss Search For Extraterrestrial Intelligence02:06PM / Friday, May 01, 2009
WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass. — SETI Institute astronomer Seth Shostak is returning to Williams College to share his latest findings on the search for extraterrestrials. The event is scheduled for Thursday, May 7, at 8 p.m. in Brooks-Rogers Recital Hall.
The SETI Institute (the Search for ExtraTerrestrial Intelligence) is a privately funded organization on the leading edge of research and technology in astrobiology and the search for life beyond Earth. One of the foremost proponents of SETI, Shostak searches for signals from extraterrestrial civilizations.
Shostak has been in charge of Project Phoenix, the world's most sensitive and comprehensive search for extraterrestrial intelligence. Using massive radio telescopes, the project targeted specific stars for scrutiny. In its day, Project Phoenix was the largest of its type in the world, making use of an antenna that read across 2 billion channels.
His research will move to the Allen Telescope Array, a new telescope which will allow a targeted search to process 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Because it is constructed with an array of antennas, it can be simultaneously used for both SETI and cutting-edge radio astronomy research. The ATA is being built at the Hat Creek Observatory in the Cascade Mountains north of Lassen Peak in California.
Shostak's research has been published in hundreds of articles in scientific journals and newspapers and in three books. His latest book is "Confessions of an Alien Hunter: A Scientist's Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence." He has made appearances on CNN, The Discovery Channel, and PBS.
He is the host of SETI Institute's weekly radio program "Are We Alone? Science Radio for Thinking Species." The weekly hourlong radio program features top scientists talking about the latest in genetics, paleontology, technology, physics, evolutionary biology, and even cosmology and astronomy.
Shostak received his bachelor's degree from Princeton University and his doctorate in astronomy from the California Institute of Technology. |
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